Take one chicken and put it in a pot. Add three carrots, three stalks of celery, and an onion chopped into large pieces. (she left on the skins and onion peel but cut off the root end) Put in 1 TBS salt and 1 tsp black pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Pull out the chicken and let cool before removing meat from the bones. Strain the stock and return to large pot. Chop another onion, two carrots, and two or three stalks of celery and add to pot. Return to simmer and add chicken meat. Season with sage (depends on how much you like).

Meanwhile make your noodles. Pour 4 1/2 cups flour into a mound on work surface/cutting board (I use my kitchen island). Mix 1 tsp salt into flour and then make a well in the center of the mound. Break in 4 eggs and add 2 tsp oil and 2/3 cups water. Stir the mix with your fingers to break up the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour into the liquid. It will be messy at first but keep going until it forms a smooth ball of dough, kneeding it some as you go. It should be firmer than bread dough. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Cut into four pieces. Flour your surface to keep the dough from sticking and roll out one piece of dough to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. (this makes the noodles in chicken and noodles nice and chewy) Flour well, roll into a long tube, and then slice it to your desired width. (my grandmother used her finger as a guide, I do mine a little more artsy and make them random) Unroll as you slice them and cut or pull them into 3 or 4 inch lengths. Keep well floured as you continue to roll out the rest of the dough.

Once all the noodle are made check your veggies for doneness. If they are almost done, check the broth for saltiness and adjust as necessary. Bring to a full boil and add noodles as quickly as possible but not in lumps. Don't shake off too much flour, it will thicken everything up as it cooks in the broth. Stir well as you add the noodles but once it's all added, quit stirring and allow it to cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Test a noodle for doneness. It should be as thick as stew, with more of a gravy consistency than a broth.

My grandmother always served it with an assortment of homemade pickles.

That sounds delicious! I saw an episode of America's Test Kitchen and they made what they called chicken and slicks. It looked really good too, but did not use eggs in the dough. Mixed the dough in the food processor.

erinszoo - My grandmas receipe was a lot like yours. I would like to add that we add a little parsley to the chicken meat right before adding noodles, and the stock is made in advance, along with the noodles. This increases stock flavor, and allows noodles to dry.

Also, for a more chewy noodle- and a smaller batch - we use 3 cups of flour, 2 eggs, and water. Mix as above, and roll all out at once to 1/8 inch thick. Flour and roll up, cutting into 1/4 inch long stirps. These can be either dusted with flour and spread on the counter to dry, or hung on noodle dryers. Make chicken stock at same time (we add salt and pepper right before serving), but then put stock, veggies, bones, and all to cool in fridge (she used the ice box after cooling) overnight. This will intensify the chicken flavor (and also, my great grandma made stock on saturdays, and dried noodles, to make on Sunday, a day or rest and thus no extra work). Next day I skim off extra fat, clean meat from bones, dice meat, and chop up several carrots, celery, and 2 yellow onions, and add to the stock and chicken dice. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons dry or 1/4 cup fresh parsley -finely cut. Add sea salt or taste, and 1-2 tsp ground pepper. Bring to boil, add noodles and cook them about 20 minutes on a simmer. This should be very thick.....

Its great served over mashed potatoes, too. We use old hens (age 3 or older) and old or naughty roosters.